“Whoa...”
Monday lunch break, school studio.
Connecting to the large speakers in the studio, the four members of amane plus Taira-chan were listening to the pre-pro tracks we had recorded by yesterday.
“Phew, so it can turn out this dazzling, huh?”
Azuma groaned as if impressed.
“...Ichikawa-san, was this really your first time playing electric guitar?”
Sako, who had her eyebrows furrowed by a fraction of a millimeter, spoke softly.
“Yep! Though even then, it's still a guitar, so there wasn't anything particularly difficult about it. If anything, the strings on the electric are softer and might have been easier to play?”
“No, but this is...”
Sako swallowed hard as she watched Ichikawa answer as if it were nothing while wiggling her fingers.
“...Did Takuto give you the phrasing instructions?”
“No, Ichikawa did it herself.”
I shrugged, picking up on the intent of that question (probably).
“I see...”
Sako was likely feeling the same thing I did yesterday.
Just as Ichikawa said, if it's just about making a sound, there isn't a huge difference between an acoustic and an electric guitar. In fact, it's easier to press down the strings on an electric.
The problem was that Ichikawa was coming up with and performing phrases perfectly suited for an electric guitar.
Well, it's not a 'problem'—it's a good thing.
“...Yeah, well, I guess so. I get it. Ichikawa-san is just like that.”
Sako muttered those ambiguous words as if to convince herself before saying, “For now, arrangement-wise, I think this version with the layered recording is better.”
“Yeah, I think this one is better too. Most of the bands I like seem to record layers like this,” Azuma nodded.
“...Alright. Then, we'll go with this direction for the arrangement.”
At that point, I took a breath. And then—
“...So, about that.”
I looked at everyone's faces.
“...What do you think of this recording?”
I threw out a vague yet blunt question.
“Ah...” “Hmm...”
Following Ichikawa and Azuma who were mumbling hesitantly, Sako rubbed the bridge of her nose and said—
“...It's pretty bad.”
She hit the nail on the head, giving me the answer I expected and the words I didn't want to hear.
“You're right...”
I let out a heavy sigh and collapsed onto the floor.
“Konuma-senpai, that's where I [spilled] the Calpis...”
“What about Calpis?”
“Ah, no, it's nothing!”
Taira-chan’s shoulders jumped as Ichikawa tilted her head in confusion.
...Come to think of it, Taira-chan did spill Calpis on the floor here before.
I was tormented by a sense of exhaustion that made such things completely irrelevant.
I realized it once we made it into a recording.
We are overwhelmingly lacking in performance technique.
It feels weird to say it myself, but I think we can pull off a reasonably good performance at a live show.
I believe we can carry a lot of energy and emotion into the atmosphere we share with the audience and move them. I don't think that's wrong in itself.
However, when you listen to it as a packaged 'recorded sound source,' you are vividly reminded that it's no good at all.
The reason why it feels that way in a recording was clear.
In short, the point of comparison becomes the professionals.
As amateurs, we don't play against professional bands at live shows. Butter's performance the other day was quite amazing, but even then, if you include emotions and such, we should have been able to stand on equal footing.
However, the situation changes when it comes to recordings.
A recording will be listened to alongside those of professionals.
In fact, the last thing I listened to today before hearing this recording was a Beatles album.
That means even the Beatles become our rivals.
Saying 'The Beatles are our rivals' would normally be a piece of insolent arrogance or a sign of an insane amount of ambition if it weren't for this situation. I even thought it was something I'd like to try saying once.
But right now, this is just a desperate recognition of our current reality.
Daikoku-san, the organizer of Seishun Rebellion, also said it on the day of the live show.
'Indeed, amane's performance today was great. An explosion of emotion that no other band could keep up with. I heard the judges were unanimous in voting for amane too, you know?'
'...But, you prepared a massive trump card for today that you can never use again, didn't you?'
Every time, we cover for our lack of performance technique with energy and emotion.
To put it bluntly, we were just faking it.
“I thought we'd have to face this eventually, but it came sooner than expected...”
Azuma made an awkward face.
Sensing Azuma's feelings, it was painful for me too.
It was as if we were being shown that the oversized determination from that day was, in the end, nothing more than a stopgap solution.
“...We need intensive training before the recording.”
“You're right...”
Even so, the only thing we can do is change the future for the better and turn everything into a 'good thing.' All we can do is struggle for that purpose.
Just as I was thinking about how we should struggle—
“...Yurisuke.”
Sako called Azuma's name with a serious expression.